Ohio Announces PFAS Drinking Water Sampling Results
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the final PFAS sampling results for almost 1,550 public drinking water systems that were tested during the state’s 2020 sampling initiative. The sampling initiative was conducted as part of the state’s PFAS Action Plan for Drinking Water. The results found only two detections of PFAS above the state’s action levels, and six percent of drinking water systems with detections of PFAS that were well below it, with the other 94 percent having no detections. The sample sites included public water systems serving communities, schools, child care facilities, and mobile home parks. Samples were analyzed for six PFAS at the following state action levels (ALs) with method reporting limits (MRLs) at 5 parts per trillion (ppt), except for GenX that had an MRL of 25 ppt:
- PFOA and PFOS: AL is 70 ppt (combined)
- GenX: AL is 700 ppt
- PFBS: AL is 140,000 ppt
- PFHxS AL is 140 ppt
- PFNA is 21 ppt
Ohio EPA took immediate steps to assist the two drinking water systems that found elevated PFAS levels and will continue to work with them to assess and address public health risks, and will also continue to monitor the other systems with low PFAS levels to ensure the levels don’t rise. For more information, read the press release and view the mapping application displaying the PFAS sample results.
